Birthdays as a Parent

Pre-kids, birthdays were usually an exciting affair. In our house, you often got breakfast (of your choice) in bed, presents, and then a meal (of your choice). We usually went out, whether it be for a spot of shopping or just down to the beach. When we were young(er), we may have even ventured out out, like, to an actual bar!

Pregnant, but out-out!

Post-kids, birthdays are completely different – or it certainly has been this year! This year has definitely reminded me I am now a parent.

My birthday celebrations started when I came down with some sort of poisoning. It wasn’t pretty. So after leaving work 4 hours early, I went straight to bed. This would have been the perfect birthday treat if my current company wasn’t a bucket!

By 4:00am my body had had enough sleep, which wasn’t bad considering I was asleep by 6:00pm (my body must have been making up for the last 13 months), however it’s likely I was woken by a wailing T who had woken up to his eyes being glued shut thanks to conjunctivitis.

S was wrestling with him to not only change his nappy (which he hates right now) but to clean his eyes. T wasn’t having any of it.

After jokingly wishing me a happy birthday, S got on with changing him. S had already prepped a bottle of boob and therefore ordered me back to bed (we still hadn’t confirmed whether my dodgy tummy was food poisoning or a bug, and that’s all we needed – baby vomit).

He woke 2 hours later, his eyes even worse than before so after some breakfast (which I just about stomached) and presents (which T helped me open – wasn’t too blind for that!), we went off to the eye hospital’s A&E department.

As expected, T didn’t nap like he usually does in the car, even though we had timed going out around his nap time. How stupid. Now we had a cranky and poorly baby.

Although the staff were amazing, jumping T ahead of the already forming queue (who knew there’d be so many eye emergencies on a Saturday afternoon!), we were still there for almost 2 hours by the time they found the right equipment and treatment.

Loaded with drops and a baby with bright orange eyes thanks to his fluorescein test, we decided to try and make the most out of the day by visiting a local farm, however the weather got the better of us so we gave up and just went home.

By the time we got home, we just about managed to squeeze in a film before it was dinner time for T and then bed. Once he was asleep, I just about managed a curry (unheard of for me) before it was bedtime for us. How very rock and roll!

Although I seem to have just been unlucky this year, I can’t imagine that future birthdays will be any different (minus the eye gunk and vomit). Long gone are the days of lay-ins and meals out, but who cares – I have this as a view now.

K

3 comments
  1. Oh no! I’m sorry your day didn’t go to plan. To offer you a little bit of hope, mine are only 2 and 3 now and we’re back to managing breakfast in bed and a meal out on birthdays.

    Nat.x

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